


Double Occupancy

by RegisteredHearse



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Minor Violence, Possession, Slight Holtzbert - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-01-28 20:31:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12614860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegisteredHearse/pseuds/RegisteredHearse
Summary: The Ghostbusters get more than they bargained for when one of their own is infiltrated by a ghost with an agenda of it’s own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some of you will recognize this story! I have done a major overhaul of the plot that required some rewrites to the chapters I had posted. I am much happier with the direction I’m taking it now, and would love to hear what you all think!

A bright white thread of electricity cut through the clouds and lit the otherwise dark, wet night as a car barreled through the gridlocked traffic, sending waves of puddles splashing from uneven pavement with each bump. The steady thump of the windshield wipers kept tempo with the muffled sound of the siren blaring from the exterior of the car and the flashing lights on the roof reflected off the falling rain back at its occupants. The car pitched sharply to the left, tires sliding slightly on the wet pavement and sending three of its passengers to grip at handholds to brace themselves.

"Jesus, Holtz, slow down," Abby said through gritted teeth as their blonde driver took another sharp turn. "I want to catch a ghost, not become one."

"I'm going the speed limit," she replied, peeking under her hand at the speedometer.

"Limits are for dry roads and better visibility." Erin spoke up from the backseat.

Holtzmann ignored them, and gunned the engine when traffic broke, opening the road for a long stretch. They were heading out of the city, to a private residence where the new owners had reported being attacked by, what sounded like a class 4 apparition. At least that's how it had sounded from Kevin's very vague message he'd scratched into a post-it note before hanging up the phone. He'd come a long way since the early days of his being their receptionist, yet he still left much to be desired from his position. But, he was family, despite his incompetence. So, they kept him around.

"Anyone call the owner back and see what we're walking into here?" Abby asked, turning slightly to face the backseat.

"Would have if Kevin'd taken a callback number," Patty replied, "We're lucky he got an address."

"Yeah, let's hope we don't end up in the middle of nowhere this time." Erin added.

"I'll talk to him again," Abby sighed.

"So, no clue what we're getting into?" Erin asked.

"All the note said was that a woman's husband was attacked in the home a week after discovering a laboratory of some kind in the basement shortly after purchasing the house."

"Attacked?” Patty asked from the back seat, “Like in the injury causing physical kind?”

"I'm not sure, but we need to be prepared for anything. Erin and I will take point, and Patty, I want you and Holtzmann monitoring every reading you can get while we talk to the owner. I don't want anything sneaking up on us while we try and gather more information."

Head nods went around the group as they fell into a comfortable silence, each one mentally preparing themselves for what they might encounter.

A short while later, they spotted the address from the note on a tall stone pillar of a large steel gate. Holtzmann flipped off the lights and sirens and let out a low whistle as she pulled the car up to the gate.

"Fancy," she said aloud as she rolled the window down, instantly soaking her arm as she reached out and buzzed the intercom.

"Hello?" a female voice crackled through the box.

"You call about a ghost?" Holtzmann said back.

Without another word the intercom buzzed and the gate slowly opened. Holtzmann quickly rolled up her window and pulled the car through the gate and up the long driveway.

"Whoa," Erin said, leaning forward in her seat to peer out the windshield at the monstrous house as they approached.

"Yup, this place is definitely haunted." Holtzmann said, putting the car in park and leaning over the steering wheel to look.

The house appeared to be a two-story old Victorian Gothic structure made of dark stone with pointed windows and tall pillars lining the surrounding patio. A single amber colored light shone through the sheer curtains of a lower level window was the only sign that anyone lived there at all. An exterior light switched on, illuminating a stream of rain water cascading down from the steep gables onto the steps.

"This place is Spooky Yo," Patty said quietly, waiting for one of the others to make the first move to exit the vehicle. “Like something out of a Dracula movie.”

"Hey guys," Holtzmann announced, pulling at her door handle, "just try and, ya know, get in there before the packs take in too much water. Trust me, you don't want that kind of jolt."

"Seriously?!" Patty groaned.

The engineer grinned and stepped out into the rain, jogging around the back of the hearse to open the back door. They made quick work of grabbing their equipment from the pack rack and carrying them under the safety of the awning before putting them on. Once they were fully situated, Abby knocked on the door, half wondering why the woman who'd spoken on the intercom wasn't already waiting for them at the door. Instead it took a full minute before the door slowly opened, revealing a young, frail looking brunette.

"Hello," Abby extended her hand, "I'm Doctor Abby Yates. These are Doctors Gilbert, and Holtzmann, and our team historian Patty Tolan. Did you call about a ghost problem?"

"I guess so. At least that's what I think it is. I know it sounds crazy but I didn't know who else to call."

"You’re not crazy. The paranormal is very real.” Erin said, trying to distract the woman from Holtzmann and Patty preparing the PKE meter. "We were told there was an attack, was that you?"

"My husband, David," she answered, then seemed to shake herself out of her own thoughts, "I'm sorry. Please come inside. It's pouring out here."

The Ghostbusters followed the woman inside the house to the lit room they'd seen from outside. She motioned for them to sit, but they politely refused, eager to get on with their scan of the house.

"David and I make a living renovating historic real estate," she began, "We purchased this property six months ago, with an inheritance left to us by my grandfather. It’s a massive property that we’ve only began to scrape the surface of. About a month after we moved in we discovered a hidden room down in the basement. We had to have a locksmith break the lock to get into it. That’s when it all started.”

"What started?" Erin urged her on.

"Just strange things at first. Sounds from different areas of the house. From the basement, mostly. Then things would go missing and show up somewhere else. Then two weeks ago, David started having nightmares. Serious nightmares where he would wake up fighting something but nothing was ever there. Two days ago, I was in the kitchen when I heard him yelling, calling for help from the basement. When I got to the doorway, I saw…I'm not really sure what I saw. Something threw him down the stairs."

"You're sure he didn't just fall?" Abby asked.

"I'm positive. Something lifted him in the air before throwing him, with force down the basement stairs. He was unconscious for two days, and is still under observation at the hospital."

"We'll do everything we can to get any paranormal entities out of your house," Abby encouraged, "But I think it would be safer if you left us here alone to do it. These things tend to not want to be caught, and being nearby can be very dangerous."

"Oh, of course. Sure." The woman stood then hesitated, "Just, be careful in the basement. We think it was used as a laboratory of some sort years and years ago. We haven't been able to remove any of the old equipment out of there. I get the feeling that's why this, whatever it is, doesn't want anyone down there."

Erin and Holtzmann shared a look of intrigue as Abby thanked the woman for her warning and walked her to the front door to see her off. She came back a short time later armed with her proton wand, ready to get started.

"Dibs on the basement!" Holtzmann said immediately, handing the PKE meter to Patty and retrieving her own wand.

"Damn," Patty swore, knowing she had just been volunteered by association.

"Let's start at the top and move our way down," Abby instructed, "we'll hit the basement together once we've cleared the rest of the house."

"Ugh! Alriiight," Holtzmann groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Stop it," Patty scolded, earning a smirk from the engineer before she set off into the next room with Abby and Erin on her heels.

It didn't take long for them to clear the top floor, containing three bedrooms and two bathrooms the size of Holtzmann’s lab. The ground level living room, den and kitchen took them nearly an hour and a half to clear together.

"God,” Abby groaned, “Who needs this much house? Did you guys find anything?”

"Not a damn thing," Patty answered, "Not a single abnormal reading on anything."

"That doesn't make any sense," Erin said, deep in thought, "Even if an apparition, strong enough to throw a grown man, hadn't made an appearance in days, there should still be some residual energy left behind that our equipment would pick up."

"Unless it never left the basement," Holtzmann replied.

"I supposed it's possible," Abby agreed, "The PKE meter didn't start picking up Gertrude Aldridge until she'd already manifested and leaving the basement she'd been in."

"So... to the basement then?" Holtzmann beamed.

"Basement," Abby confirmed.

Despite Holtzmann's excitement to explore a haunted laboratory, she let Abby open the door and lead the way down the first few steps before following her in. Erin flipped a switch before entering, lighting the room with a single amber bulb hanging in the middle of the room from bare wires. The dim light revealed three walls lined with workbenches covered with various shelves and boxes under a thick layer of grimy dust.

Abby stopped when the light came on, scanning the area and looking to Erin and the PKE meter in her hand. Without needing to hear the question in Abby's eyes, Erin shook her head. So far, their equipment showed nothing.

They continued slowly down the steps until they reached the landing and spread out through the room. The room was small in comparison to the rest of the house. Back under the stairs they’d come down was an open doorway, hidden from the light of the basement. The door swung loosely from its broken lock when Abby pushed at it. The others crowded in behind her, peeking over her shoulders into the dark room beyond. Abby retrieved the small flashlight she’d stored in her cargo pocket and clicked it on, light reflecting off of a grimy glass wall at the opposite side of the large room.  
Squinting, she scanned the light down the wall, searching for a switch of some kind. She located it a few feet from the door and switched it on.

The dim overhead lights flickered on, one popping and going dark from years of non use. The room was enormous, nearly the size of all three floors of the firehouse combined. It was divided down the middle by the glass wall holding numerous work benches covered with various dust covered beakers, Bunsen burners and other old scientific machinery. In the far corner a pair of desks were pushed together into a tight workspace, littered with accident papers and notebooks.

“Jesus,” Abby said, barely above a whisper, “what is this place?”

Holtzmann scanned the equipment on the workbenches curiously as she slowly walked passed them and mentally cataloged what she saw, brain going into overdrive with ideas. If the lab hadn't been used since the 40s, it was anyone's guess as to what kind of scientific breakthroughs could have been sitting incomplete in the massive dungeon of a room, forgotten by time.

They walked around in silence for a long time, each studying their surroundings and the reading on their scanners for signs of paranormal activity.

"Well," Abby broke the silence, frowning at the PKE meter in her hand, "If anything was here before, it's gone now."

"You think she imagined it?" Erin asked.

"Maybe he just fell," Patty added. "This place is definitely creepy enough to play tricks on your mind. Make you see things different from how it happened."

"Should we do one more sweep around the house with the PKE meter just to be sure?" Erin asked.

"Can't hurt," Abby answered, and made her way back out of the lab toward the staircase with Erin and Patty trailing behind her.

"I'm gonna hang back here," Holtzmann stated. 

The answering silence pulled her eyes away from the gadgets on the workbenches in the lab and she looked to her staring teammates. "What? Seriously? Look you guys... Science! Old science! This place is incredible!"

"Alright Holtz," Abby sighed, "Just, don't touch anything alright. We have no idea what this place was used for."

Holtzmann slashed her finger across her chest in a cross you heart motion and lifted it into a three-fingered boy scout salute.

The rest of the team began their ascent up the stairs before Erin stopped and turned back to look down at the blonde. Something in her gut was telling her to stay. That it was a bad idea for anyone to be alone near the lab, even if their equipment had showed no signs of activity. Before she could voice her concerns, Abby stopped, three steps down from the door and turned slowly back.

"Do you feel that?" she asked quietly.

Erin froze, listening with sharp ears and focusing on the air around them. It was a molecular change, one that would be nearly impossible to detect by an untrained mind, but there was definitely something different. A heaviness had surrounded them, making it just slightly harder to breathe, like a rise in humidity levels.

"Uh, guys?"

Erin whipped her head to look back down at Holtzmann, who had stepped backwards out of the lab to be visible from the staircase, and immediately noticed the now visible moisture of her breath from her mouth as she stared back up at them with wide eyes. Suddenly the PKE meter in Patty's hand began whirling and a static crackle of white noise hissed through the two-way radios they'd added to their belts. Erin spun on her heel and led the quick stampede back down the steps to join Holtzmann. It was most definitely colder at the bottom of the stairs, making their eyes burn. The static from the radios turned to a high-pitched squeal and a shift in air pressure caused a moment of vertigo throughout the group.

"Seems we're not alone after all," Holtzmann said, flexing her jaw to relieve the building pressure in her ears.

The lights in the throughout the lab suddenly burst, raining sparks and heated glass onto their heads and plunging them into darkness. Patty stepped back instinctively in surprise, bumping into the workbench. A loud crash of glass shattered against the floor, knocked from its place on the table, and the room burst into a brilliant blue light. The phosphorescent form of a woman surged out of the darkness, rushing them before their eyes could adjust and react. Holtzmann took the brunt of the blow, slamming backwards into the glass wall, cracking it against her pack and making her see stars. Before she could recover she was being lifted by her foot into the air.

"Hang on Holtz," Abby yelled as two streams of proton energy wrapped around the specter before it could reach the full height of the room.

The banshee let out a wail that made their ears ring when the streams made contact and it released the engineer. Gravity took full effect and Holtzmann landed hard on her back, smashing glass and knocking dusty experiments over from the impact. Patty was at her side instantly helping her roll off the table to her feet. Holtzmann's feet gave out and she dropped to her knees with Patty dropping down with her.

"You alright?" Patty asked, risking a glance away from the screeching specter to her friend.

"Yeah," Holtzmann tried to catch her breath and shoved Patty's hands away, "help them."

Patty nodded and stood up, releasing her own proton stream to wrap around the apparition from the opposite side of Abby and Erin. The banshee wailed again, turning to look at the historian with glowing hollow eyes. In a burst of energy they'd never seen before, the phantom wrapped its glowing hands around the proton stream projecting from Patty's wand like a physical rope and tugged. Patty's eyes went wide in disbelief before she was ripped from her feet by her own grip on the wand. She landed hard on the concrete floor, sliding into Erin and Abby’s legs, knocking them over with her momentum.

"What the hell?" Abby swore, rolling as quickly a she could to her feet.

"That's…that's impossible!" Erin wheezed and pushed herself up.

Before they could fully recover, the specter gathered another burst of energy, glowing brightly before rushing forward at the three Ghostbusters. Suddenly the room exploded into a blinding white light as the ghost trap popped open in the center of the room, creating a vortex beneath the wailing phantom. It spun around, reaching out at Holtzmann who leaned back away from its flailing hands and fired her proton wand, never removing her foot from the trap's pedal.

Three more streams joined into the fray the moment the others could regain their footing, pushing and pulling until the specter could no longer fight and was pulled into the depths of the canister and the room went dark with a solid clap of sealing metal. The instant silence was nearly as deafening as the screeching had been.

"Holy shit," Abby gasped after a moment of catching her breath, "Is everyone alright? I can't see anything."

"Yeah," Erin replied from somewhere to her right.

"Yeah, I'm good," Patty added from her left, "Holtzy you alright?"

"Yeah," Holtzmann's voice was quiet across the room.

"You sure?" Abby picked up on her uncharacteristic tone and shuffled cautiously toward her voice. "You took a pretty good hit."

"Not my most graceful landing, but it was my first time flying."

Abby smiled in the dark, glad there was still humor in her pained voice. They had all taken tumbles on busts and landing on your back with a proton pack strapped there was never a pleasant experience. The small engineer had taken two of said hits in a matter of seconds. Still she said she was fine, so Abby would take her word.

Finally, their eyes began to adjust to the dim red hue of the room cast by the glowing of their packs. They regrouped at the center of the room, visually looking over each other as best as they could, then to the trap at their feet.

"That supposed to be doin that?" Patty asked, tilting her head at the canister.

"No," Abby and Holtz answered in unison.

The trap pulsed with a light glow, vibrating against the concrete and then going still.

"I vote we get that thing back to the firehouse and transferred into the containment unit ASAP," Erin suggested needlessly.

"Yeah, I'm can get on board with that," Patty agreed.

Holtzmann was already leaning over to pick the canister up when Abby noticed her wince and stopped her. Without a word to bring any attention to the engineer, Abby picked up the canister, reattached the pedal and motioned for Holtzmann to follow Patty and Erin up the stairs.

They made it back to the firehouse in record time. Twice more on the drive back the trap had vibrated in Abby's lap and each time she had braced herself for the ghostly woman inside to break out into her face. But the trap held strong. When they arrived at the firehouse, they'd rushed upstairs with the trap and carefully transferred its resident into the containment unit with Holtzmann's expert precision. Once it was done, they watched the unit silently for a few moments.

"I really wish these lights worked Holtz," Erin voiced, staring up at the useless lights atop the unit.

"Safety lights are..." Holtzmann began.

"Are for dudes," Erin and Abby both cut her off, "we know."

Holtzmann grinned at this then gingerly lowered herself to sit at her workbench. The double impact of her pack into her back, along with the initially hit the specter had landed that sent her into the wall in the first place had taken more of a toll on her than she'd first thought. Now that the adrenaline was wearing thin, she could feel every bruise forming under her jumpsuit.

Her friends were not as oblivious to her discomfort as she'd hoped. Thankfully to Holtzmann, they were tactful in not vocalizing their concerns, which was something Holtzmann was never really comfortable with. Abby had already taken on her protective mother hen role, taking the trap and doing the heavy lifting in transferring the entity into containment. Erin kept giving her sideways glances with unmistakable worry creasing her brows and quickly diverting her eyes when Holtzmann looked at her. Patty had yet to join them in the lab, instead unloading their gear from the car which Holtzmann also usually did.

"You okay?" Erin asked after Abby left the lab.

"Oh yeah, sure," Holtzmann answered with a grin, "You shoulda seen the other guy."

Erin rolled her eyes. She most definitely had seen the "other guy", and she was something truly amazing. Never before had they encountered an entity so strong that they'd worried the trap wouldn't hold it. It was terrifying, yet exciting. They had a new level of activity to study.

"You think she was the scientist?" Holtzmann asked, staring past Erin at the containment unit.

"What scientist?"

"The one whose lab we were in."

"I don't know. It's possible. She did seem to manifest only after you decided to stay and poke around while we cleared the rest of the house."

"I, do not poke science Erin." Holtzmann corrected, "I catalog and analyze."

"Okay, well maybe she didn't want you cataloging and analyzing her stuff."

Their conversation was interrupted as Abby returned with Patty at her side. She set a bottle of Advil and a can of Red Bull on the table in front of Holtzmann without a word and joined in where they'd left off.

"Patty's gonna do some digging and see if we can find anything on that house. If there were any sort of substantial experiments going on down there, there's probably a record of it somewhere in the archives.

"Did you manage to ID anything down there Holtzy?" Patty asked, "that could help me narrow it down some."

"Sorry Patty," Holtz shook her head, "Abby told me not to touch anything so I was waiting until you all left."

Abby rolled her eyes and asked, "What was going on with the trap?"

"Ah, I have a theory about that," Holtzmann tapped the now empty trap with a screwdriver. "We only have one. It's been used to catch forty-seven ghosts. Long story short, I think it's just outta juice."

"I thought you calibrated it and maintained it after every bust?" Erin asked curiously.

"I do, but even with maintenance, its gotta wear down eventually."

"So, no more trapping anything until you can build a new one?" Abby clarified.

"Don't fret Abs," she smiled and slid off her stool and slid a box out from under her desk, wincing when the weight pulled at her bruised back. "Little help Patty?”

Patty rounded the table and helped her lift the box to place on the table. Holtzmann reached inside and pulled out a few various pieces of steel and set them out in a small presentation. When she was done, she beamed brightly at the other three women, who all stared blankly between her and the metal.

"What is it?" Erin was the first to speak.

"Well, at the moment, its junk." Holtzmann grinned, earning another eye roll from Patty and a sigh from Abby.

"What's it going to be?"

"I'm glad you asked Erin! Once my shipment of Uranium and paperclips arrives, its going to be a new and improved portable containment unit, capable of holding not one, not two, but three ghosts at a time. Four if they're small. Like a cat. Or maybe a dog. A small one. Like a Pomeranian. Capable of holding three ghosts and one Pomeranian."

"A ghost Pomeranian?" Abby repeated flatly.

Holtz nodded, "I'm calling it the Schrodinger."

"The Schrodinger?" Erin questioned, "Why would you call it that?"

"Because Erin, one never knows if what's inside is dead, or alive. It's a mystery until the box is opened. Just like Schrodinger's cat."

"They're ghosts Holtz," Abby replied, "They're dead."

"Are you sure? Cause I'm fairly certain that thing we caught today was not just some standard dead ghost. Not alive obviously, but not quite dead dead either."

"I guess they aren't really dead dead until we turn them to slime," Patty added with a shrug.

"Precisely," Holtz pointed the screwdriver at Patty in agreement.

"When is it going to be done?" Erin pressed on.

"Depends on when my shipment gets here. Hopefully by the end of the week."

"Ok, am I the only one here concerned with who sells and delivers stuff like Uranium to people?" Patty interjected.

"And paperclips," Holtz added.

"Don't ask don't tell," Abby shrugged.

"Will the old trap hold until then?" Erin asked the engineer curiously.

"Probably."

"Probably?" Abby parroted back, "You're not sure?"

"I'm about ninety percent sure."

"What's the other ten percent?" Patty asked.

"If we get another one like the last one," Holtzmann shrugged, "To tell you the truth, I'm surprised it held her at all as charged up as she was when we put her in there."

"Speaking of charged up," Abby stepped in, "That was some next level stuff down there. What do you think got her so amped up and how come we didn't detect it until she was right on us?"

Holtzmann shrugged in response. None of them had the answer. The ghost from the basement laboratory was an anomaly. One they intended to study further, once they figured out how to contain it again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those that took a few minutes to comment on my first chapter! Special thanks to J_Nerd for being my sounding board and helping me work through this plot line! You’re all amazing!

Erin held her head between her hands, staring down at the notepad on her desk in front of her. She’d been staring at the equation scratched into the paper for the better part of an hour and was still nowhere near solving it. Every time she’d made progress, a loud bang or smell of something burning pulled her attention away to return only after she was sure crisis had been adverted and they were not going to explode.

Holtzmann had been banging, soldering and welding away at their new ghost trap for nearly three days and Erin was sure she must have scrapped the thing at least a half dozen times. Their lab, which was mostly Holtzmann’s lab in which Erin shared a small corner, was strewn with metal shavings, wadded up caution tape and empty takeout containers were beginning to spill over the top of the trashcan. Erin had wanted to clean it up, but restrained herself solely by reminding herself that she wasn’t exactly sure what was scraps and what was actual working pieces of tech the engineer was still working with. Her method, much like the engineer herself, was chaotic and unpredictable and Erin had learned early on not to pick up anything in the lab without knowing exactly what it was.

“How’s it goin?”

Abby’s voice at her side made her jump, scratching a pencil line across the paper in surprise. She looked wide eyed to her friend then took the cup of coffee being offered to her with a shaky hand.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” she confessed.

“No kidding,” Abby laughed, “With all that racket over there it’s amazing you don’t already have tinnitus.”

Erin followed Abby’s eyes over to Holtzmann who pulled her goggles over her eyes, oblivious to them watching, and began cutting away at a piece of sheet metal with a power grinder. The screeching grind of metal on metal made them both wince. Erin watched the glowing rain of sparks bounce up from the saw and shower down onto the floor, and all the objects stored there.

“God I hate when she does that,” Erin grumbled where Abby could barely hear her, “This whole place is going to go up in flames one of these days.”

“Nah,” Abby shrugged, “If anyone knows how to put out a fire, its Holtzmann. Whatever the chemical, she knows how to douse it.”

“That’s only mildly comforting.”

Abby laughed then motioned back to the notepad on her desk.

“Making any progress?”

“Not really,” Erin confessed, “I think I’ve just been staring at it for too long.”

“Hmm. Well Patty’s making progress in the history of our scientist house haunting.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll go get her and see where we are in all of this.”

A few minutes later they were all gathered up in the lab, carefully avoiding the metal parts on the floor.

“Alright, so I found out some stuff about that house, and I think I know who our ghost is,” Patty started, earning raised eyebrows and undivided attention from the other three women. “I dug back to the mid 30’s for ownership of the estate. The house was built by a James Michael Murphy in 1937. He and his wife Elizabeth lived there until he was shot and killed in 1940 by whom they believed to be a burglar. Before that he worked for the government under the FDR administration. Now Elizabeth was a real pioneer in nuclear research of her time. There were rumors that she took over her husband’s research into nuclear weapons after he died and had actually been the brains behind his research while he was alive. Women in science being so frowned upon as it was back then. Basically, this bitch was the Holtzmann of the 40s.”

“I like her.”

“There were no traces of anything remotely radioactive in that lab,” Erin shook her head, ignoring Holtzmann’s interruption. “Our equipment would have picked it up, wouldn’t it?”

“Depends on the material and the quantity,” Holtzmann answered, “Back then they would have been crazy to have any more than a gram of nuclear chemicals present for testing. Anything more and they would have blown themselves, and half the city, into smithereens.”

“Yeah man,” Patty continued, “lucky for us she never completed it. Elizabeth and another scientist by the name of Gordon Antonelli were found dead in that same lab in July 1943.”

“How did they die?” Abby asked.

“Only old report I could find said they believed they died of inhaling poisonous gases after being trapped inside the lab.”

“Makes sense,” Erin shrugged, “They didn’t have nearly the amount of knowledge and access to safety precautions we have now. Who knew what they were inhaling down there.”

“So we have a radioactive ghost,” Holtz grinned, “Nice!”

“Can I finish?” Patty looked pointedly at the engineer before continuing. “Anyway, I was able to dig up some notes from a few articles, but it’s all gibberish to me. Maybe you nerds can make some sense of it.”

Patty handed a pad of paper that she’d scribbled down some notes on to Abby and Erin, and Holtzmann moved in close to read it over her shoulders. Suddenly Erin’s eyes went wide and she looked back up to Patty in surprise.

“Are you sure this was from that lab?” she asked.

“Pretty sure,” Patty answered, “It was from an old journal recovered by police when they removed their bodies after the accident. Why? What is it?”

“They were creating fission…” Erin’s answer faded off as she drifted into her own thoughts, mind running equations at lightning speed.

“Fission? You mean that stuff from Rowan’s devices?”

“Sort of. The levels they’re implying here are insane though. I mean, we’re talking about a bombardment of 235U and 239Pu.”

“They were breaking down subatomic masses.” Abby nodded, also getting excited about the implications.

“Hey!” Patty cut in, “Ya’ll are gonna have to speak English here.”

“They were splitting atoms.” Abby said flatly.

“Hang on a sec,” Holtz reached under Abby’s arm to tap a finger against the paper, “Boron, Aluminum, Plutonium, Uranium, Polonium Beryllium...”

“Sounds like they were building a bomb,” Erin speculated.

“No.” Holtz cut in, “I know this design. Patty, when did you say this was dated?”

“Uhm,” Patty took the notebook back and flipped back a few pages, “forty-four.”

“You guys,” Holtzmann’s eyes were alight in the way that made her look like even more of a mad scientist, “This isn’t just a bomb. This is THE bomb!”

“Okay Holtz, you gotta back up and pretend we can’t read your mind,” Abby prodded, “What is THE bomb?”

Holtzmann took a deep shaky breath, doing her best to stamp down her excitement before explaining. 

“In nineteen forty-five, scientists constructed a steel containment vessel capable of containing one hundred and eight short tons of high explosives spiked with radioactive isotopes.” She paused, giving them a moment to follow her line of thought, “You guys! We’re looking at the original formula designs for the Trinity Gadget!”

“What the hell is the Trinity Gadget?” Patty barked out, frustrated with all the cryptic science talk.

“It was the first nuclear weapon,” Erin answered quietly. The color had drained from her face. “It was the predecessor to the nuke they detonated over Nagasaki. A weapon of mass destruction.”

Nobody said anything after that. They were all familiar with the historical detonation of the first wartime atomic bomb. If Holtzmann was right, they were holding in their hands the prequel to one of the most horrific acts of war that history had ever seen and may have even captured the ghost of one of the scientists involved in creating it.

“We have to get back to that house,” Abby broke their rumination, “we can’t leave that stuff there.”

“You’re right,” Erin agreed, “Without Elizabeth’s ghost down there guarding that lab, their work is there for anyone to find. I think we can all agree the world is better off without ever knowing it ever existed.”

“Lets go get it,” Patty voiced her agreement.

They broke apart, each hurrying to their respective working spaces to set aside what they’d been working on before bustling downstairs to the Ecto, none of them noticing the gently flickering of light on Holtzmann’s desk, covered by the notepad she’d hurriedly tossed down in her haste to leave.

They returned to the firehouse nearly six hours later. It hadn’t taken them long to come up with a story of radioactive residue being left behind by the ghost to explain to the homeowner that they needed to collect everything from the basement lab to prevent any hazardous contamination. She’d been eager to let them remove each item, not even asking questions as to what it had all been used for. They’d been correct in assuming she would just want it all gone so she and her husband could move on with their ghost-free lives.

Abby was the first to enter the firehouse. She pushed the door open, surprised to find the room dark. She took a few steps inside, sliding her hand down the wall, searching for where she knew the light switch was. She found it with ease and flipped it down, then back up. She did it twice more before accepting there would be no light. Erin, Patty and Holtzmann entered behind her, confused by the darkness.

“Did we forget to pay the bill?” Holtzmann joked.

Before anyone could answer her, the lights flickered back on, making them squint by the sudden brightness.

“Hey!” a voice from the desk across the room called to them, “You’re back!”

“Were you just sitting there in the dark?” Erin asked Kevin.

“Only for a few minutes,” He answered. “I think we might have forgotten to pay the bill.”

Holtzmann grinned and smacked Patty’s shoulder playfully to emphasize that it had been a good joke.

“I hope that wasn’t my job,” Kevin looked sullenly at Abby.

“No,” she answered, “It’s not. I’m sure it was just…”

Before she could finish her sentence, the lights again flickered, briefly going off then flashing back on.

“What the hell was that?” Patty voiced what they were all thinking.

“Some sort of power surge?” Erin offered.

“Kevin,” Abby got his attention back with a stern voice, “How long have the lights been doing this?”

“Couple hours.”

“A couple hours?! And you didn’t think to call and tell us?”

“I figured it was just from the storm. It’s been raining.”

“I’ll check the lab,” Holtzmann announced before Abby could respond to Kevin.

“I’ll go with her,” Erin said, chasing the engineer who was taking the steps two at a time.

“I’ll check the breakers,” Patty added, leaving the room in the opposite direction.

Holtzmann and Erin got to the lab just as another surge killed the lights again. The dim blinking of a green light was easy to notice in the darkness, despite being underneath a stack of papers. Holtzmann swore, hurrying for the desk, stepping around the various project parts on the floor. It may look like chaos to everyone else, but it was organized chaos. She placed them for reasons and didn’t need to see them to know exactly where they were. Unfortunately, Erin did not. She tried to follow Holtzmann to the blinking light but quickly found herself tripping over something solid and heavy. She prayed nothing would explode as she stumbled, catching another object with her toe and falling forward.

Instead of hitting the floor, her flailing arms were caught in the engineer’s strong grip as Holtzmann balanced her. Erin breathed out a thank you, but Holtzmann had already moved on, flinging the papers off the blinking light and swearing under her breath.

“What is that?” Erin asked, carefully shuffling the rest of the way to the table.

“A problem,” Holtzmann answered shortly, “The backup batteries are drained. The surge protector isn’t working.”

“Wait, it’s a safety light?” Erin would have laughed had Holtzmann not been so serious, tossing things aside and digging through boxes.

“I need two more batteries,” Holtzmann barked and pressed a flashlight into the palm of Erin’s hand, “They’re in the third locker from the right. Bottom shelf.”

Erin hurried to the locker and pulled it open. She pulled at one of the large batteries with her free hand, frowning when it didn’t budge. They were a lot heavier than they looked. At Holtzmann’s urging to hurry up, she put the flashlight between her teeth, cringing at where it might have been before Holtzmann had handed to her, and used both hands to drag the battery from the locker. She grunted with effort and waddled under its weight as she walked it back over to the engineer. She took quick notice of Holtzmann splicing some wires and expertly running cables from a now open panel on the containment unit before scurrying back to the locker for the second battery. When she set the second battery down, Holtzmann had already attached the cables to the first one and was sliding a spent battery from its compartment in the unit, making it look much easier than Erin knew it was.

“What’s going on Holtz?”

“Just a minor setback,” She lied.

In the beam of Erin’s flashlight, she noticed the shimmer of sweat beading on the engineer’s forehead, which made her even more nervous. She worked quickly, threading wires from the open panel to the batteries and typing a few things into the keypad on the front of the unit. The more time that ticked by, the more quickly the engineer worked, and the more anxious Erin became.  
A sudden pulse of electricity made Erin’s heart skip a beat in her chest as she watched the static arch pop from the cable in Holtzmann’s hand to the battery she was connecting it to. Holtzmann jerked back away from the jolt with enough force that her back collided with the metal cabinet behind her, knocking it over with a loud crash. Erin was moving instantly to help her when the lights of the room blinded her as they kicked back on and the containment unit hummed back to life.

“Erin?” Abby was shouting from the stairs, “Holtz? Are we good?”

Erin called back to her and spun around to face Holtzmann, who was slowly attempting to push herself up from the pile of fire extinguishers and baking soda boxes that had spilled out of the toppled cabinet.

“Holtz, are you alright?” she asked, helping her to her feet.

Holtzmann looked stunned, cradling her right hand to her chest and glaring at the containment unit. Erin repeated her question, as Abby and Patty entered the room. The commotion of their entry gained the attention of the engineer and she blinked hard a few times, clearing her head with a shake.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, then cleared her throat, “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?” Erin was skeptical, “Maybe you should sit down for a minute.”

“No, I’m fine,” Holtzmann shook her head, “We have to stabilize the containment unit. It can’t run off those batteries alone for long.”

“What happened to it?” Abby asked.

“Massive power surge of some kind. Something overloaded the generator and drained the backup batteries.”

“Lightning maybe?” Patty suggested.

Abby watched Holtzmann take a few steps toward the unit, smearing blood from her injured hand as she slowly ran it over its metal surface as if she was admiring it. Abby turned to Erin, who frowned and shook her head in response.

“Holtzmann?” Abby said quietly. When she didn’t respond, she stepped up next to her and set her hand on her shoulder and spun her slowly to face her. When their eyes met, she saw confusion in them.

“Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”

Holtzmann stared at her blankly for a fraction of a second before answering uncomfortably.

“I’m fine Abs. Just got a little jolt that’s all.”

Abby held her gaze for a few more seconds before releasing her to turn back to the unit. She typed a few buttons on the keypad before frowning at it and typing again.

“What is it?” Erin asked.

“Its…” Holtz paused, running hundreds of possibilities through her head, “Its stable.”

“How is it stable? You just said it can’t run off the batteries alone.”

“It can’t.”

“Alright Holtzy,” Patty’s voice sounded harsh after the softer tone the rest of them had taken, “I know you’re a little fried around the edges right now, but ya need to make up your mind about that thing. Cause if its gonna explode or somethin’, I’d rather not be in the same room with it.”

Holtzmann mulled this over for a few second before looking to each one of them. She’d been zapped by one of her machines more times than she could remember, but her brain had never felt so foggy afterwards before. Maybe Abby was right. Maybe she had hit her head on something in her tumble into the steel cabinet.

“I’ll run some tests,” she shrugged and unconsciously rubbed the back of her head, “may be just a fluke, but we need to know for sure.”

 

It took almost four hours for Holtzmann to run a full diagnostic on the containment unit. It was nearly 2am when she’d finally finished it. Patty and Abby had turned in for the night, opting to sleep in the third-floor living quarters instead of going home. Erin had done her best to keep up with Holtzmann’s tenacious search for answers, but had lost her fight with sleep shortly after midnight. Holtz glanced over at the physicist sleeping, head down on her desk in the corner of the room. She’s going to have one hell of a sore neck in the morning, she thought to herself. 

She slid off her stool, walked across the room and kneeled next to Erin’s chair. She placed a hand on the redhead’s shoulder and gave it a gentle shake. Erin snorted as she sat up, eyes still closed and swayed in her chair.

“What?” Erin mumbled through her sleep, “I’m up. What do you need me to do?”

“Go to bed Erin,” Holtz answered.

“Did you fix the containment unit?”

“Yeah, about that,” Holtzmann pushed herself back up to her feet, “there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Erin’s eyes blinked open at this, quickly finding the blonde and staring, “What do you mean nothing’s wrong with it? What about the power surge and the batteries? I mean, that thing electrocuted you.”

“It did not,” Holtz defended her machine, “Mild shock at best.”

“Whatever it was, what caused it?”

Holtzmann shrugged. She didn’t have an answer for her. She had run diagnostic after diagnostic and re-calibrated every circuit she could. The power levels remained steadily running off the building’s power supply and showed no signs of fluctuating.

“So, it really could have been the storm?”

Holtzmann shook her head, frustrated, “No, I don’t think so.”

Erin studied her colleague for a moment. Her shoulders were slumped, the dark circles under her eyes emphasized how red they were, and her wild hair had fallen loose in spots in the back. She looked exhausted.

“You need to get some sleep Holtz. We can take another look at it in the morning with fresh eyes.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Holtzmann shrugged. She hated leaving a job undone, but she was tired and her head ached.

Erin seemed to read her mind and gave her a sympathetic smile before patting a hand on her shoulder and leading her up to their sleeping quarters.

*******************************************************************************

Fire. Fire burned all around her. She couldn’t remember when it had started or where, or what had caused it. She blinked as smoke attacked her eyes, making them burn and water. She wiped at them frantically with her gloved hands, clearing her vision and scanning her surroundings. Rubble lay everywhere. Piles of shattered cinder block, wood fragments, and broken asphalt surrounded her. She took a step forward, looking up into the smoky, star littered sky. She was suddenly aware of the familiar weight on her back and the straps digging into her shoulders. She was wearing her proton pack and coveralls. But if she was suited up, where were the others?

“Erin?” She yelled into the fire, “Abby? Patty?”

She searched the area quickly, getting more and more panicked when she couldn’t find her teammates anywhere. The fire was getting hotter and the smoke thicker. A distant explosion rumbled, shaking the ground below her feet. She wouldn’t be able to stay much longer. She coughed and staggered around a pile of debris and her boot connected with something solid, yet flexible. She looked down, and her chest clenched and her stomach roiled. A bloody, gloved hand stuck out from under a large pile of dirt and debris at her foot.

“No, no no no,” she panicked, dropping to her knees and digging, tossing pieces of stone and wood from around the arm until she reached her face.

Lines of blood had cut paths through the dirt and grime on her face and pooled on the ground beneath her head. Her vibrant blue eyes were dull through a postmortem film and stared straight ahead, lifeless. Holtzmann sat back onto her feet, trying to choke back the tears that were blinding her. She still had to find the others. Abby and Patty could still be alive somewhere. She didn’t want to leave Erin, but she had to find them. They could still be saved.

“Holtzmann.”

She spun on her knees, blinking through her tears to focus on the owner of the voice. The relief she felt at the sight nearly toppled her over. Abby was there, standing tall and alive and Patty was standing just a few steps behind her.

“Abby,” she choked out, “Erin…”

“You did this.” Abby’s cold clipped voice cut her off.

Holtzmann froze, staring at Abby. She didn’t look sad, she looked furious, and behind her Patty held the same look of rage and disappointment.

“What?” she stammered, “I…”

“You did this,” Abby repeated, hands ringing tightly around the grip of the proton wand she held in front of her.

Holtzmann whipped her head from Abby to look at Erin. Poor, sweet, innocent Erin. How did this happen? She couldn’t remember anything. Her mind was was a black hole. She forced herself to look away, back to Abby, who now had the wand pointing at her and her pack humming to life.

Holtz didn’t argue or plead for her life. If she was somehow responsible for Erin’s death, then she deserved this. She would never endanger her family. Was it a lab accident? She just couldn’t remember. She let her stare falter from Abby and caught sight of a reflective surface behind her. Some sort of broken mirror. But she wasn’t interested at all in what sort of surface it was. She was stunned at what looked back at her. The face that looked back at her held no tear soaked cheeks, no wild blonde hair and no yellow glasses. The woman staring back at her was a stranger. Long brown braided hair and sharp cheekbones, but her eyes were what had captivated her the most. Blue and green spirals of glowing light spun brightly within their irises.

“Abby!” Holtzmann tried to warn her of the danger, but was stunned when the reflections mouth moved with her words. Mimicking her words with a voice that was not her own.

“I’m sorry Holtz,” Abby’s voice cracked and Holtzmann looked back to her.

“No! Abby, look!” She pointed frantically at the reflection.

“I’m sorry.”

Abby’s thumb pressed the trigger and the burst of light of proton energy consumed her with a wailing scream ringing through her ears.

Holtzmann jerked awake with a gasp, sitting up quickly in her bunk. She blinked hard a few times, forcing her eyes to adjust to the dark. With every blink, visions of Erin’s dead eyes, or Abby’s accusing glare flashed through her mind. She fought to calm her breathing as the darkness of the room seemed to close in on her, smothering her. She untangled her legs from her blanket and rolled over until her feet hit the cold concrete floor and she hurried to the door. As quietly as she could, she exited the room, latching the door behind her and then bolted to the closest bathroom down the hall.

Her stomach twisted in knots and the recovering muscles in her back screamed at her as she dropped to her knees over the toilet and was well and thoroughly sick. When the dry heaving had stopped, she flushed away the evidence of her ordeal and sat back against the wall, tilting her head back to rest against the cool bricks. What the hell was that? Sure she sometimes had weird, and sometimes frightening dreams after particularly spooky busts, but never had she been so deep into a dream that she physically had to run away from it.

She wiped a hand over her face, smearing the mixture of sweat and tears off her cheeks and dug her palms into her eyes. She shivered from the chill against her sweat soaked body while she counted in her head, forcing herself to breathe. She hadn’t blown up the firehouse. Erin wasn’t dead. Abby had not killed her with her proton pack. It was just a dream. Everything was okay.

“Holtz?”

She jumped in surprise at the sudden voice on the other side of the door.

“Holtz, are you okay?”

It was Erin. Poor, sweet, innocent, dead…no, not dead.

“Get a grip,” she whispered to herself, before pushing herself up to her feet and opening the door.

“Erin,” she whispered, not fully trusting her voice, “What are you doing up?”

“I felt you get up,” she answered, “I was worried. Are you okay?”

Holtzmann winced. Erin was sleeping above her on the top bunk. Of course she’d felt her wake up. She’d probably shaken the whole bed when she’d sat up from the dream. The downside to bunk beds and yet, she’d been the one to insist they get them.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m fine,” she avoided looking at her. The images from the dream were still too raw.

“You don’t look so good. Are you sick?”

She did look up at her then. Had she been standing outside the door the whole time? Had she heard her throwing up? Gross. She considered lying, but knew she wasn’t any good at it. She was covered in sweat, though she wasn’t sure if it was from puking her guts up or the nightmare.

“I need to lay off the junk food,” she smirked. “Abby keeps telling me, Red Bull isn’t dinner. I’m starting to believe her.”

Erin did a quick scan of the blonde as she shuffled from one foot to the other nervously. Though it had been a couple hours since they had left the lab and turned in for some sleep, she somehow looked even more exhausted. Her eyes were redder, circles darker, and her damp tank top clung to her clammy skin, showing the dark bruises she’d received during the laboratory bust days prior brightly against pale skin. 

“Are you sure? she asked, concerned, “Holtz, if you hit your head in that fall earlier, you could have a concussion. Nausea can be a serious symptom.”

Holtzmann mulled over this for a few moments. It would make sense that the rattling of her brain in her skull could have caused such a vivid dream and even the nausea that followed.

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

That was all Erin was going to get. Holtzmann needed to get her mind focused on something else. So, she gave her friend a reassuring smile and ducked around her to walk away.

Erin watched the engineer leave, walking passed the bedroom door and disappearing down the stairs toward the sanctuary of her lab. She thought about following her, but Holtzmann wasn’t one for hovering. Her presence there would only irritate her and make it even harder for her to relax. So Erin re-entered the bedroom as quietly as she could.

“She okay?” Patty’s whisper startled her. Apparently, she hadn’t been the only one woken up by the bed rustling and abrupt exit of their youngest member.

“She said she’s fine.”

Patty didn’t reply. There was nothing more to say about it. Holtz would be reckless, stubborn, carefree Holtzmann. They’d be there if she needed them, but until then, they’d give her her space.

Downstairs, Holtzmann pulled open her locker and retrieved her burgundy satin robe and pulled it on to ward off the chill of the air on her drying skin. She padded across the small kitchen area and proceeded to put on a pot of coffee, adding two extra scoops for good measure. She could already feel the anxiousness of the nightmare fading, but if she was going to be anything more than a walking zombie for the rest of the day, she was going to need the caffeine. 

While the coffee brewed, she wandered around aimlessly. She stopped at Patty’s desk, picked up the notebook from the top and read over the notes scribbled in curly scrawling letters across the page. Boring. She put it down and picked up another. Something about a retired battleship dry docked at a harbor in Jersey. Cool. She put it down, shuffle through a few more papers, glancing only briefly at them as she purposely mixes them up. She smirked, thinking about Patty’s reaction when she notices the disorderly mess.

She moved away from the desk, taking only a few steps before she freezes. A strange tingling sensation creeps up from the back of her mind making her the hair on the back of her neck stand up and she feels light headed for a moment, then suddenly she’s focused sharply. She turned quickly, hurried back to the desk and scatters the papers, spilling some on the floor. She finds the one she had spotted and reads it over. The Trinity Gadget.

Ugh. What a stupid name. Why would they call it that?

The voice in her mind makes her shake her head. She doesn’t know why they called it that. She doesn’t know why she cares. She reads over the notes. She’d seen them already when Patty had first told them about the laboratory and the device, but its suddenly as if she’s hearing it again for the first time and the information makes her feel angry. The notion confuses her. Why is she suddenly angry about something that happened well before her parents were even born.

The coffee machine beeps, pulling her attention away from the notes in her hand. She mechanically drops the papers back to the desk and follows the sound back to the kitchen. She fills a mug with the strong brew, skipping her normal cream and sugar, and carries it back up the stairs to her lab. She has work to do.

**************************************************************

Erin woke again when the sun began peeking through the curtains into the bedroom. She rolled over and looks at her watch. 7 o’clock. Patty and Abby are still sleeping on the other bunk across the room. She rubs her eyes with her fingers, then rolls over and leans over the side of the bed to look at the bunk below her. It’s empty. She climbs down, noticing Abby roll over to look at the source of the sound.

“She ever come back?” Abby croaked out, causing Patty to roll over and look at her as well. Apparently neither of them had actually been sleeping.

“Doesn’t look like it.” Erin sighed.

“Aw Man,” Patty grumbled and sits up as Abby begins climbing down to the floor.

They enter the lab as a group and as they expected, Holtzmann was sitting at her workbench holding a cup of coffee. What they didn’t expected was the blank stare she had locked on the opposite wall. They shared a wary look between themselves as they approached her. She didn’t seem to have any clue they were there.

“Holtz?” Abby spoke softly.

The engineer jumped in surprise, splashing coffee from her mug up onto her chest and into her lap.

“Oh shoot,” Abby quickly grabbed the nearby roll of paper towels and hurried the help her wipe herself off, “I’m sorry!”

“Oh, it’s okay. It’s fine. It’s...,” her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “it’s cold.”

Abby stopped dabbing at the mess and frowned at her friend. Erin and Patty stepped up to the table as well, watching the duo.

“Why are you drinking cold coffee?” Erin asked, “It’s freezing in here.”

“I…” Holtz looked down at the now nearly empty mug, then up at her colleagues again. “It was hot when I started.”

“You must have been really deep into whatever you were working on then,” Abby replied, “I have never seen you waste a cup of coffee. What have you been working on that’s so much more important than sleeping?”

Holtz opened her mouth to answer, then shut it, looking around at her workbench. There was nothing there. She had been working on something. She had to have been. Her vision zeroed in on the empty desk. Maybe she’d already put it away. She suddenly felt ill. Why couldn’t she remember what she’d been doing for the last few hours? It was like the dream. Her mind a black hole of nothing. Panic began to set into her chest, making it difficult to breathe. How long had she been just sitting there staring at the wall? Long enough for her coffee to go cold in her hand. What the hell was going on?  
Her mind clouded, darkness creeping in on the edges. Why couldn’t she breathe? It was like she was inhaling smoke. The smoke from her dream.

“Aight, that’s it,” Patty blurted out, “What is goin’ on with you Baby?”

“I...”

“Nope,” Patty cut her off, “You’re not fine, try again.”

“But…” Holtz tried again to tell them something wasn’t right. She was in trouble. She couldn’t breathe. Patty cut her off again.

“Nah!”

“Patt…”

“Holtzy! I swear to God, I’m ‘bout two seconds from physically carryin’ your dainty ass to a hospital to get that brilliant, but crazy, head of yours scanned.”

There was a long pause with Patty standing with hands on her hips, daring anyone to argue. Holtzmann stared back at her with a confusing array of emotions crossing her face, and appeared to be holding her breath. Abby and Erin watched on as the two engaged in a silent battle of wills.

“I can’t...” Holtz’s breath caught in her chest again. Patty was finally letting her speak and she couldn’t. Served her right for always saying she was fine. Now when she was trying to tell them she wasn’t, they assumed she was. 

A sudden, sharp pain shot from the back of her neck to her front of her forehead, nearly dropping her to her knees. What the hell was going on?   
She had to tell them something was wrong. 

Erin and Abby watched the short argument, waiting for Holtzmann to explain. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it. Abby caught a sudden flash of what looked like pain crossed her face as she looked away from Patty to her with wide eyes.

“Holtz?” Abby cut in, immediately worried, “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

Relief crossed her features and she shook her head no, reaching a hand passed Patty to Abby.

“Can’t...breathe,” she finally got out between deep, forceful breaths.

“Shit,” Abby swore, “Calm down. Come sit down Holtz. Erin grab her a blanket will ya please?”

Erin frowned at the odd request until she noticed that Holtzmann’s hands shook with slight tremors while she fought to catch her breath. She was shivering. 

“Erin!” Abby firmly pulled her attention back in.

Shocked, Erin hurried away to the bedroom to retrieve the blanket from Holtzmann’s bunk. When she reached for it she instantly remembered the amount of sweat Holtz had been covered in after waking up in the night. Instead she grabbed the blanket from her own bunk and rushed back to the lab where Abby had settled Holtzmann into sitting on the couch next to her. Erin wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and sat down on her other side.

“It’s alright Holtz,” Abby said softly running her hand up and down the blonde’s back, trying to ease the tremors, “Deep breaths are good, but you gotta slow down.”

Erin watched Holtzmann’s bandaged hand clench and unclench into a fist as she fought to control the sudden outpour of adrenaline which Erin knew all too well. She was no stranger to the overwhelming pressure on her chest with no discernable cause. The panic that set in when she was unable to catch her breath. The panic made it difficult to breathe and the difficulty breathing made her panic. It was a vicious cycle. But she had never witnessed it as an outside party before. She was usually the one suffering. The one who Abby had always talked through it as a teenager with crippling anxiety. 

Something wet dripped onto her arm, pulling her from her thoughts back to the present. She frowned down at the wet blob, then looked up to the ceiling, searching for the source. Not finding anything out of the ordinary, she focused back onto what was unfolding with the engineer. It was there that she found the source of the offending liquid.

“Abby?” Erin spoke quietly, eyes locked on the side of Holtzmann’s head.

Before Abby could answer her or do anything more to help, Holtzmann pushed their hands away, pitching forward and heaved what little amount of coffee she'd managed to drink onto the concrete floor. Abby and Erin were instantly at her sides keeping her from falling on her face when her arms gave out. Abby fell back onto her butt, pulling the engineer back with her and pulled her back into her chest, wrapping her arms around her. Holtzmann let out a pained groan and pressed her hands into her temples.

“Holtzmann?” Abby called to her, trying to pull her hand away from her head, “Tell us what’s wrong.”

Abby was no longer calm. This wasn't a simple Erin Gilbert panic attack. This was something else entirely. Holtzmann was gasping and shivering despite the sweat that had begun beading on her face and drenching her tank top and robe. 

“Abby!” Erin, finally pulled the brunettes attention from the blonde in her lap, “Look at her ears.”

Abby followed her instruction, and stared in disbelief for a moment. The vivid green goo they were all too familiar with oozed from Holtzmann’s ear canal, smearing down her neck and into Abby’s shirt as she held her tight. Abby’s brain kicked into overdrive, suddenly both afraid of and for her friend.

Erin grabbed the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around the engineer as best as she could. She didn't know what else to do. Holtzmann let out a wheezing, shuddering sigh and released her grip on her head and let it fall back, resting on Abby's shoulder and Abby turned to speak directly into her ear.

"Holtzmann, you listen to me," she spoke between clenched teeth, "Just breathe ok? Feel my chest moving? Breathe with me."

“Abby, what’s happening?” Erin whispered.

Abby ignored her and continued speaking into Holtzmann’s ear. She couldn’t think about it now. She could only deal with one thing at a time and now the more important issue was the wheezing engineer in her arms.

Holtz braced her foot against the floor, pushing herself back further into Abby's chest as her eyes clenched shut and she groaned in pain. She did this twice more, fighting to follow the directions Abby repeated in her ear before she finally started to slow down.

“I’m calling 911,” Patty finally spoke aloud, lifting the already ringing cell phone to her ear.

“No,” Abby broke her focus on Holtzmann to looked back at Patty, “a hospital can’t fix this.”

“Man, we don’t even know what this is!” Patty yelled back, but Abby was once again focused solely on coaxing Holtzmann to slow her breathing.

Erin scooped some of the slime from Holtzmann’s neck onto her fingers, lifting it to show Patty in a silent explanation. Patty frowned, glaring at the goop for a moment before advising the operator on the other end of the phone that they no longer needed help and hung up without another word.

Slowly, after a tense few minutes, Holtzmann’s breathing began evening out as she relaxed further into Abby’s hold. Her head lolled on Abby’s shoulder when she shifted signaling the blonde was completely limp. While the even breathing comforted her, the unconsciousness worried her even more.

Erin watched on, still lightly rubbing the blanket over Holtzmann’s arms as much to comfort herself as attempting to help the long ceased tremors the engineer had been suffering only minutes earlier. Minutes that had felt like an hours.

“Abby,” Erin whispered, eyes locked on the sleeping blonde’s face, “What just happened?”

“ I don’t know,” Abby confessed, “but I’d bet my life it had to do with that bitch we busted in that lab.”

“What makes you think that?” Patty asked quietly, moving to sit on the floor with them.

“Rowan,” Abby replied with a shake in her voice, “and the slime.”

“Check the unit.”

Holtzmann’s quiet voice surprised them, effectively silencing them. 

“What?” 

Erin leaned in to hear her strained whisper as she repeated herself. Erin stood, and walked to the keypad on the unit.

“What am I looking for Holtz?”

She was once again silent and Abby gave her a gentle shake, repeating Erin’s question when she blinked lazily awake.

“Check the ghosts.”

Abby relayed the instruction where Erin could hear it as Holtzmann relaxed impossibly further into her chest. They weren’t getting anymore information from her anytime soon.

Erin tapped away at the keypad, reading the display.

“I don’t really know what I’m looking for here guys.” She confessed. “It says there’s forty-six ghosts catalogued by class and malevolence. Any idea what she’s trying to tell us?”

“Wait,” Patty joined Erin by the display, “you said forty-six?”

Erin nodded, “All varying between Class 1’s to Class 5’s. Twenty-six malevolent vapors, thirty with human form, seventeen with...”

“Doesn’t matter,” Patty interrupted.

“What is it?”

Both women looked expectantly at the historian.

“Seriously?” Patty groaned, “Do ya’ll ever actually listen to each other? You remember when when Holtzy was explaining how the trap was worn out? She said we’d caught forty-seven ghosts. So why’s there only forty-six now?”

Erin’s jaw dropped, while Abby simply let her eyes fall closed and tightened her grip on the sleeping woman in her lap. Her fear was confirmed. The containment malfunction, Holtzmann’s lost time, the slime, and now the missing ghost. She briefly flashed back to Rowan’s attack on her in the Chinese restaurant bathroom and her subsequent attack on her friends. There had been pain, and there had been slime. Much, much more slime.

She opened her eyes to look at the peacefully sleeping engineer.

“It’s in Holtz.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! Your feedback literally motivates me to keep going!


	3. Chapter 3

“It’s in Holtz.”

The words still reverberated through Erin’s entire body. It had been nearly four hours since they’d come to the conclusion of what had happened to Holtzmann, and it still caused clenching her chest and panic to fog her brain with questions. She hadn’t been there when Rowan had taken over Abby and attacked the others. Was Elizabeth Murphy planning to do the same using Holtzmann? Had she already done something while they were asleep? How could this have happened?

So far there weren’t many similarities between Rowan’s possession of Abby and what was happening to Holtzmann. She hadn’t been violent toward them, nor did she even seem to realize she’d been possessed until she’d been overwhelmed by it. Silently Erin wondered if the realization had been what had sent her into the apparent panic attack. Erin could partially relate to that. She likely would have reacted similarly if she’d been in her position. She’d almost venture into believing that it had all been an overreaction spurred on by pure panic over a misunderstanding. But then there was the slime. There was no other known explanation as why Holtzmann had literally been bleeding the ectoplasm from her ears while gripping her head in pain. There were still too many unanswered questions. Questions that they couldn’t even begin to answer until Holtzmann woke up.

The woman in question was tucked in under Erin’s blanket on the couch a few yards away from Erin’s desk, where they’d settled her after Erin insisted she could watch over her while she worked. Though Patty and Abby were busy downstairs, researching everything they could find on James and Elizabeth Murphy, each of them had come up at least once every hour to check on their engineer. Still, she slept on, either exhausted from the ordeal, or Elizabeth was buying her time. Erin was not very fond of either scenario. She hated the waiting.

Motion from the couch caught her eye and Erin looked up, clenching her teeth as the engineer sat up. She quickly hit the speed dial on her phone to call for Abby and Patty and braced herself. If Elizabeth was in control, at least they would have a head start up the stairs to give her a fighting chance when Holtzmann attacked. Instead she stretched her arms above her head and turned from side to side, wincing at the audible popping of joints. Then she turned her head to Erin and frowned, reality of her situation dawning on her.

“How long was I out?” She asked quietly.

“About four hours,” Erin answered just as Abby and Patty stampeded into the room, ready to fend off an immanent attack.

Holtzmann blinked dumbly at them, confusion clearly written across her face.

“What the hell happened?”

Abby eyed her, suspiciously trying to get a read on whether or not she was really their friend or not. She looked like Holtzmann, sounded like her too.

“We were kinda hoping you could tell us,” Patty challenged.

Holtz thought to herself for a few minutes, mulling over what she remembered, which wasn’t much.

“It’s all a little fuzzy,” she confessed, “I remember having a nightmare, feeling sick and getting up to get some coffee.”

“That was almost twelve hours ago Holtz,” Erin frowned, “Is there anything else?”

“I went downstairs, made coffee with two extra scoops and skipped the sugar.” She frowned. That wasn’t like her. She loved her coffee loaded with sugar and flavored creamer.

“Then what?” Abby prodded.

“I wandered around downstairs for a bit and messed up the papers on Patty’s desk,”

“Man, why you gotta keep doing that?” Patty grumbled.

Holtzmann ignored her and continued, “I remember something in the notes irritating me. Something about the name of the Trinity Gadget. Then I guess I came up to the lab to work on something. I remember spilling coffee on myself, and then just not being able to breathe and having the worst brain splitting migraine I’ve ever had in my life.”

“That’s all?” Erin asked.

“Yeah,” she pouted, “I know there’s gotta be more than that, but I just can’t remember.”

“You don’t remember telling us about Elizabeth Murphy’s ghost escaping containment?”

Holtzmann stared at her slack jawed for a moment. Then her face paled and she jumped up to her feet in realization.

“Wait, I...She’s in my head isn’t she?”

“We think so,” Abby answered quietly.

“Fuck!” She swore, pacing back and forth, tapping her palm against her forehead, “God, I didn’t hurt anyone did I? Please tell me I didn’t try to hurt you guys!”

“Calm down Holtz,” Erin spoke softly, “you didn’t try and hurt anyone. You did give us all quite a scare with some sort of panic attack though.”

“A panic attack?” Holtz frowned, “That can’t be right. I’ve never done that before. I’m not a panicker.”

“Actually, I have a theory on that,” Erin offered, switching her attention to Abby, “Abby, when Rowan possessed you, did you know it was happening?”

“Well, yeah I knew it,” Abby frowned, “I could hear him taunting me and it was like watching everything unfold around me but not being able to do anything about it but scream. Lot of good it did though. I still threw Holtzmann out the window.”

Erin spun back around to Holtzmann, “Any of that sound familiar Holtz?”

Holtzmann thought for a moment then shook her head. “I didn’t hear anything, and I feel fine now.”

“So what caused the reaction you had after waking up last night? And the lost time? Could it have just been the jolt you took from the containment unit?”

“Don’t forget about the slime,” Abby added.

“Yeah man,” Patty nodded, “the slime thing is pretty whack.”

Erin mulled it over for a few seconds. She thought back to waking up with Holtzmann being sick and the blank stare she’d been sporting when they found her in the lab. Something was definitely off, but was it really a possession?

“I don’t think you’re possessed,” Erin said, shaking her head.

“Meaning?” Abby asked, confused.

“ I think she’s hiding,” Erin answered, matter of factly.

“Why?” Abby asked, “What does she want?”

“I don’t know,” Holtzmann shook her head frantically, “but I don’t really wanna find out. I don’t want anyone in my head but me. I can barely handle my own thoughts, I don’t need anyone else’s.”

“None of this makes sense,” Erin shook her head, “Every time we’ve encountered possessions, they have been blatant, aggressive possessions. She was clearly malevolent down in that lab, so why is she just hiding now?”

“Maybe escaping containment drained her energy?” Patty suggested.

“What if what happened to Holtz this morning wasn’t a panic attack at all, but rather her body’s reaction to Elizabeth’s ghost trying to take control?” Erin added. “She wasn’t strong enough to take over, but the attempt was enough of an adrenaline dump to confuse your nervous system to the point of going haywire and shutting down.”

They paused to look at Holtz, who shrugged back at them. She had no idea what had happened to her earlier. She’d been burned, zapped, and jolted numerous times, but never haywired. She remembered trying to tell Patty that she couldn’t breathe and that her hands were tingling, but Patty was on a rant and wouldn’t listen. Then there was pain. Mind numbing pain shooting through her skull and tightening her chest with every breath. She vaguely remembered being on the floor and Abby speaking directly into her ear, coaching her into breathing slowly. Then the next thing she remembered was waking up on the couch, feeling as if she’d pulled an all-nighter with her good friend Jack Daniels. She didn’t know if that’s what a nervous system going haywire felt like, but what she did know is that she hoped it never happened again.

“Holtz?”

“Huh?” she blinked, pulling her attention away from her thoughts and back to her friends, who stared at her in varying states of alarm.

“You okay?” Abby asked.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. Just trying to make some sense of this. What did I miss?”

“I asked what happened last night that got you out of bed?” Erin repeated her unanswered question.

“Oh,” Holtz winced, remembering the horrible image of her dead friend and Abby’s actions that had woken her, “I, uh, I had a nightmare.”

“Related to the ghost?”

“Yeah I guess so. Maybe.”

“Well?” Patty urged her to continue.

“Well what?”

Patty groaned, “I swear to God Baby, one of these days…What was the dream about?”

“A fire. Maybe an explosion or something. You were there,” Holtz pointed at Patty, smirked and moved her finger to Abby, “and you were there. And you…” she froze, finger pointing at Erin. The image of her bloodied face flashed in her mind.

“I was what?” Erin shifted uncomfortably.

“I, uhm...I don’t remember you being there.” Holtz lied, smirk gone and finger dropping.

“Anything else?” Abby urged her along.

“Just lots of fire, and you guys blamed me for it. Granted, most of the time when there’s an explosion, I am the cause of it.”

“What else?”

“I don’t know Abby,” Holtz rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly exhausted, “What does it matter? It was just some dumb dream.”

“Humor me.”

“There was some lady there. Appeared in some mirror and just watched you shoot me.”

“Wait, Abby shot you?” Erin frowned, “Why would she shoot you?”

“What did she look like?” Abby interrupted before Holtzmann could answer Erin.

“Like your typical ghost. Old unimaginative clothes, long braid, brown hair. She didn’t say anything. Just stood there watching.”

“Patty, did you find any photos of Elizabeth Murphy in your research?”

“Yeah, I did,” Patty nodded, already rushing down to her desk to retrieve her notes. When she returned she pulled the photo from the stack of notes and handed it to Abby.

“This the lady Holtz?”

Holtzmann looked down at the photo and frowned. The woman in the photo was standing poised and rigid in a nearly identical, boring dress and long braid wrapped into a bun. She handed the photo back to Abby with a quick nod.

“What does any of this mean?” Erin was frustrated now.

“I don’t know,” Abby confessed, “but I don’t think Holtzmann should be left alone until we figure it out. Sorry Holtz.”

“Makes sense I guess,” Holtz shrugged, “Someone has to make sure I don’t start another apocalypse while no one is watching.”

“So what...just business as usual until that thing is strong enough to really take over?” Patty asked, “cause I gotta say, I’m not one hundred percent okay with that.”

“I don’t think any of us are okay with any of this Patty,” Erin replied, “But we don’t really have any other options right now. Not until we know what she wants.”

Patty shrugged, not having any other options, and they broke apart to their respective areas of the firehouse. Holtzmann retrieved the new trap prototype she had been working on and set it on her workbench. She could already feel Erin’s eyes boring into her from across the room, which normally would open her up for relentless teasing, but now it just irritated her.

“Okay Lady”, she thought to herself, hoping the spirit in her brain could somehow hear her, “Whatever you’re gonna do, let’s just do it quick. These shoes are not made for walking on eggshells.”

*******************************************************************************

Erin had been working quietly at her desk, listening to the sound of metal and drilling for nearly four hours, periodically glancing up to check on the engineer before she noticed a slight change in her demeanor. It was a subtle difference, but Erin noticed the more pronounced slouch to her shoulders and the slow motion of her hands, which no longer seemed to be working with much purpose. She had been moving slightly more stiffly since taking the beating during the bust days before, but now she wasn’t just stiff, she was wound tighter than Erin had ever seen her. 

Erin watched her silently for a few moments, studying her face before deciding that she wasn’t about to be taken over by a malevolent ghost, but rather was exhausted and fighting to keep herself upright and working.

“Holtz?” Erin spoke quietly.

“Hmm?” she acknowledged without looking up.

“You okay?”

“Still me, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“It’s not.”

Holtzmann looked up with a heavy blink and let out a sigh.

“Sorry. It’s been a weird day. I’m fine.”

“It’s alright Holtz. I’d be more surprised if you weren’t a little cranky, and no offense, but you look exhausted.”

“I’d only be offended if you weren’t right.” She shrugged, “Who woulda thought that very little sleep and having an evil spirit borrowing through your brain would take so much outta ya?”

Erin winced at the crude description, “Why don’t you go lay down for awhile. I don’t think it’ll bother anyone if you call it an early bedtime.”

Erin expected the engineer to scoff at the suggestion and opt for a pot of coffee or a one of her disgusting Red Bull drinks, but was slightly taken aback when she just nodded her agreement, set her work aside, and shuffled slowly out of the lab. Erin sat staring at the empty door she’d left through for a few minutes before standing, stretching her back and making her way down the stairs to where Abby and Patty were sitting, chatting at the kitchen counter.

“How’s it going up there?” Abby asked, pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to Erin, “Where’s Holtzmann?”

“Good I guess,” she answered with a frown, “She was starting to look really tired, so I suggested she call it a night and go to bed. Is it weird that she actually agreed and went to lay down?”

“Normally I’d say yes,” Abby replied, “But she did have a ghost attempt to suck all the energy out of her this morning. That would take a lot out of anyone. Even Holtzmann.”

“I suppose.”

“Notice anything else out of the ordinary?”

“Not really... I mean, she’s obviously annoyed by all of this, maybe a little moody, but nothing that suggested she wasn’t herself.”

“Well, as happy as I am to hear she’s still our Holtzy,” Patty cut in, “but what are we going to do to keep her that way?”

“I was thinking about that,” Erin replied, “Maybe we can use something we found in the Murphy’s lab to draw the ghost out.”

“I’m sorry, but wouldn’t that just leave us with a fully possessed, and probably pissed off, Holtzmann?” Patty asked.

“Maybe, but then we could at least talk to her. Maybe find out what it is she wants.”

“You mean like Rowan wanting to destroy our entire plane of existence?” Abby asked suspiciously, “a repeat attempt at pestering the living?”

“Well yeah, maybe, but at least he let us know where we stood. If this ghost in Holtzmann has some evil agenda, I really think we should know about it. Don’t you?”

“Well yeah. I just worry about what that will do to Holtz. How are we going to get it out of her without her going full Rowan?”

Their conversation was cut off by a loud crash from the lab above them. Without missing a beat, they broke apart and ran up the stairs and piled into the lab, stopping just inside the door. Holtzmann stood in the center of the lab, staring down at the sparking pieces of metal on the floor at her feet. What moments earlier had been an almost complete ghost trap prototype was once again a pile of junk. Abby risked a glance behind the blonde to the rack containing their proton packs, doing a quick calculation on how quickly she could get around her and retrieve it. It was no good, she was standing right in between them. Without a diversion, she’d never get passed her.

Holtzmann looked up at the noisy entrance of the others and stared blankly at them for a moment while they cautiously entered the room. Abby risked a step towards her carefully, calling her name. The engineer continued to stare, not acknowledging the movement in the slightest. Abby spoke her name again, slightly louder and took another step. Suddenly her eyes seemed to clear and focus on Abby’s. She shook her head, clearing away the haze and seemingly taking in her surroundings for the first time.

“Holtz? That you?” Abby asked suspiciously, hands raised as if she were taming a wild animal.

“Um...yeah. I think so. Feels like me,” she answered, rubbing her hand over her face as if to check, “Did I.....Was I someone else?”

Before any of them could even attempt to answer her, she noticed the broken trap and crouched down over it, poking at the pieces with a groan.

“What the hell happened to my trap?” she whined.

“You don’t remember?” Abby asked.

“Remember what?” Holtz frowned, “Last I remember was laying down in my bunk and then suddenly I’m here. Guys, how did I get here?”

Nobody responded. None of them knew where to begin.

“It happened again, didn’t it? She took over. She broke the trap.” Holtz grimaced, “What did I do? God, Did I hurt anyone? Did I try? Guys we gotta get this thing out of me.”

She stood up and started pacing short lines, breathing picking up speed and intensity as she asked questions but didn’t give them time to answer.

“Holtz, calm down,” Patty assured her, “You didn’t hurt anyone.”

The engineer ignored her, shaking her head and continuing her pacing and mumbling. She chewed at her bottom lip; a quirk that she always did while thinking hard about something. She stopped in her tracks, spinning to face the trio of women with wide eyes.

“Patty!”

She shoved Erin and Abby aside and crowded the historian, grabbed her hands and lifted them up into a boxing position.

“Hit me,” Holtzmann ordered flatly.

“What?”

“Hit me,” she repeated, “I watched you backhand that asshole Rowan out of Abby and he was in full on fighting mode. Come on, just wind up and let me have it.”

“Holtzmann, come on, that’s crazy,” Erin said, looking to Abby for help.

“You’re always threatening to throw me across the room or clock me upside the head,” Holtz ignored them and continued, “Here’s your chance! We’ll make T-shirts that say “I knocked out Jillian Holtzmann.”

“You can’t be serious man,” Patty tried to drop her hands but the blonde caught them and lifted them back into position twice before grabbing them tightly and holding them there.

“Patty, please! Just smack the hell out of me. Literally.” Holtzmann pleaded, suddenly sounding weak, and the crack in her voice made Patty pause and really listen to her. “Please? I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Patty tried to look away from the engineer for some help from Erin and Abby, but she was locked in on the desperate blue eyes of her friend, and for a moment she wished she were wearing those damn yellow glasses so she couldn’t see the tears forming in them.

“Holtzy,” Patty clenched her fists before turning them over to gently push Holtzmann’s hands down from holding them, “I can’t hit you Baby. Not when you’re you. You know that.”

“You didn’t hurt anyone Holtz,” Erin tried to reason with her. “You didn’t even try. There’s no need for this.”

“Then what happened?” Holtz sniffed, “Abby said she could see everything when Rowan was controlling her. Why can’t I? I can’t remember anything. It’s just...blank.”

“I can’t answer that,” Erin confessed. “We heard the crash and found you right there over the trap. Nothing else. You didn’t try and hurt anyone. We don’t even know if you broke the trap on purpose.”

Holtzmann took a few deep shaky breaths, calming her nerves. The others watched her uncomfortably. None of them had ever seen her lose her cool before. She was always so laid back and carefree. They needed to break the tension and reel her back in.

“I think its safe to say that Elizabeth doesn’t want to go back in the trap though,” Abby added, giving it her best with a smirk.

“Can’t say that I blame her,” Patty picked up on her attempt to lighten the mood, “It’s the only way to get her back into containment, and she already escaped that once.”

“Looks like once was enough for her,” Erin added with a light chuckle, hoping it sounded genuine. 

Holtzmann looked between her friends. Each of them held their best comforting expressions, which she could clearly see were meant to make her feel better about her situation. She looked back down at the trap and sighed.

“Yeah well,” she finally added with a half smirk of her own, “you’ve seen the people we put in there. They’re assholes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment! Your input motivates me to keep going!


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